April 8, 2023
California

4,000-acre wind farm gets Board approval

By ALLISON GATLIN, Valley Press Staff Writer | Apr 6, 2023 | avpress.com

The Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a nearly 4,000-acre wind farm west of Rosamond at its March 28 meeting.

The Keyhole Wind Energy Project, from EDF Renewables, would place up to 45 turbines, producing up to 100 megawatts of electricity, on 3,920 acres a half-mile north of Rosamond Boulevard and west of 170th Street West.

Map courtesy of Kern County Department of Planning and Natural Resources

The Los Angeles Aqueduct crosses the southeast portion of the project, which stretches northwest of Rosamond Boulevard and 179th Street West.

The site is near existing electrical transmission lines for carrying the electricity produced by the wind energy project.

As part of the project approval, the Board voted to change the existing zoning from various agricultural and rural residential zoning to wind energy zoning and eliminated the provisions for future roads within the project.

The Board also approved Conditional Use Permits for two temporary concrete batch plants on site for use during the construction period.

The project is an expansion of a wind energy project originally approved in 2010 and located within the overall original project, according to the staff report. As such, it includes an amendment to the original Pacific Wind Environmental Impact Report and an agreement to adhere to the mitigation measures of that document.

In a letter of support, the Kern Economic Development Corporation noted that the project would create “approximately 120 well-paying and much-needed construction jobs and an estimated $28.5 million in total property tax revenue for Kern County.”

Letters in support of the project were also received from a handful of iron workers union members and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers. One property owner with land located adjacent to the project provided a letter speaking against the project and the potentially detrimental effects on the use or sale of his currently vacant property.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2023/04/08/4000-acre-wind-farm-gets-board-approval/